Jason Torchinsky

This idea is so perverse I can't help but love it. It's a picture of what appears to be a nicely-polished Honda 1.8L B18 engine nestled in the engine bay of a Z06 Corvette. Now, to Corvette purists, this is the equivalent of getting a heart transplant from a mole — an abomination that also is just too feeble to actually even work.

Corvette forums were reacting with genuine revulsion at the idea, using words like, "desecrated." Personally, I think the little Honda engine, which can make up to 200 HP, is certainly capable of moving a 'Vette around, even if it'd be a bit more sluggish than the God/GM-given V8.

Sadly, the picture was just a joke, done by a mechanic with a bit of spare time, an engineless Z06, and a side project involving a shiny Honda engine. Being normally a transverse engine, the longitudinal/rear-drive fitting in the Corvette would have made for some exciting transmission-adaptation work if it was real.

Advertisement

The thing is, I really love the idea. Gearheads have been transplanting big, powerful engines into little cars for decades, and it's always a blast. Now I'd like to see an automotive subculture obsessed with cramming the smallest, feeblest engines they can into the most impressive, powerful cars they can find. It'd start like this, with Honda fours in Corvettes, then progress to Geo Metro three-cylinders in Vipers, then 2CV flat-twins in Aventadors, and culminating in the pinnacle of the genre, a Briggs and Stratton 1 cylinder lawn tractor engine in a Veyron.

Then we can race all these neutered supercars in one of the most gradual races ever seen. All good automotive subcultures have good names: Donks, Hellaflush, Lowrider. I think this subculture should be called Gelders.